1,000,000
A million…perhaps when you were in elementary school your teacher had the class try to collect a million of something just to give you an idea of how much a million of something really is. It might have been pennies but I doubt you reached your goal. A million pennies equals $10,000. If you worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, no vacation, no holidays, no sick days it would take you 480.8 years to reach a million hours. A million seconds equals 11.574 days. My point…a million is huge. In the United States more than a million people have contracted the corona virus. If that number has not shocked you before, I hope it does now.
The population of Horsham, PA is 26,147. It would take just over 38 Horsham’s to lose every single resident to reach a million deaths. This is real, this is serious, this is far from over. I say this because too many are becoming cavalier out of boredom, skepticism, frustration or whatever. Ask any individual who works in a hospital and sees the toll it takes everyday and you will begin to get an idea of how serious this is. Perhaps until it is our parent, spouse, child, or dear friend we won’t fully understand, but why wait until you have to grieve such an unnecessary loss. Imagine it, no hospital visit, no hand to hold, no funeral, no chance to say good bye. I recently watched one friend go through it and the one who died didn’t even have the virus, but the hospital didn’t allow visitors. A spouse admitted one day, literally dropped off at the door, and died three days later.
Here’s the thing: when I tell others you are one in a million I want it to describe how unique and wonderful you are, not how you are part of a statistic!
Let us pray:
Gracious God our healer and our guide, be with the people of God that are Resurrection Lutheran, Horsham. Keep them safe, fill them with hope and a sense of compassion for others. For those who are afraid give them the assurance that they are not alone, for those who are depressed, lift their spirits, for those, who are lonely, nudge us to reach out to them, for those in any need help us to reach out to them with generosity and compassion. Lord, hear our prayers for our congregation, our Commonwealth, our nation and our world. We are all part of your creation, we pray that we might do what needs to be done to overcome the current ills caused by this virus. Fill us with a sense of your presence and trust that better days are head, through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen
The Rev. Ellen Meissgeier